(This is a thread from Mizahar's fantasy role play forums. Why don't you register today? This message is not shown when you are logged in. Come roleplay with us, it's fun!)

Built into the cliffs overlooking the Suvan Sea, Riverfall resides on the edge of grasslands of Cyphrus where the Bluevein River plunges off the plain and cascades down to the inland sea below. Home of the Akalak, Riverfall is a self-supporting city populated by devoted warriors. [Riverfall Codex]

It was a crying shame, something as big and strong and potentially as powerful as Freke was acting completely broken. Someone had trained him well and had raised him most likely with no idea of the size or strength he was capable of. It was like staring at a gelded man, devoid of the things that made them men… keen intelligence, passion, a thirst for knowledge, a drive to be better, stronger, and a fierce protective streak. Kavala didn’t know if he was too far gone to save. She didn’t even know if he was worth saving. Sometimes, raised like they were, it was kinder to pass them on to someone who would maintain their submissive personality and encourage their lack of drive.

It was still a shame. Kavala watched Freke from the corner of her eye as she spoke softly to the elderly stallion, guiding him down the road towards home. Her mind drifted back to the memories she’d Dreamwalked of being in the laboratory of Irvine Zanrisi. Then her name had been A’kenas and she’d been a shield pinto kelvic that had also shared his bed. Freke and his kind might have been developed, but his personality would have gotten him culled from those first batches of Kelvics. He wasn’t strong enough, not as he was, to pass through world gates and explore in the name of their Masters as Kelvics were required to do. Maybe he’d be kept for companionship to a child, though Kavala hadn’t seen his ability to fight to know if he could really protect one. She might be able to cultivate something in him… but it might be far too late.

This was the lot of far too many kelvics. More and more cast offs with Freke’s very similar submissive personality had been trickling through places like The Rattling Chains. Ravok broke far too many of them and then cast them loose into the world, sold on the auction block for just one last fee. Just one more profit. The Konti sighed deeply. She just didn’t know. Maybe if she Dreamwalked his Chavi she could find something there worth saving, worth tapping into, a past fierce enough to guide him in this present and future. Their paths had crossed for a reason. Kavala didn’t believe in coincidences. Was this one? She just didn’t know. What she did know is that if he choose to be a danger to her or her family, she’d cull him in a heartbeat. No life was worth that risk, though she didn’t think there’d be a problem with it coming from him.

“Nevermind about the questions. Since you’ve not answered most of them anyhow, I suspect we need to call the game to a close since we are nearly where we are going anyhow.” Her voice was abrupt, distracted, and she was annoyed. That emotion surprised her. Kavala normally had the patience of the elderly who knew good things would come in time if things were set in motion to make them happen.

She let Freke continue on, repeating what she’d said, rumbling it around in his brain. Kavala didn’t like people that apologized. If Freke turned into one of those that apologized a great deal, she’d tack that on as one of his rules and make him muck stalls for breaking it.

When Freke finally answered one of her questions, she just raised an eyebrow. She let him go on about his rules and quietly noted what they were. “My home is full of kelvics. It’s a place for them to go to heal. You’ll find clothing is optional and there are no rules about shifting. The only rules I enforce with a vengeance is that no defecating outside of the proper places for such things… and I will show you the restrooms… and try to keep hair off the furniture. If you get hair everywhere, you will be expected to clean it up.” She said firmly, knowing that to a lot of healers it wouldn’t be a big deal, but Kavala liked to keep her place clean.

“Also, not understanding my rules is not an option. If you don’t know them or are unsure you must ask someone and they will answer your question, whatever it is. Myself included. I will get annoyed at you if you do the wrong thing and do it because you were too stubborn or stupid to ask someone what the right thing was.” She said, not knowing if he’d understand or not. Kavala would definitely need to walk his Chavi. It was the only way she was going to be able to tell (because she couldn’t interacting with him) if he had permanent damage from his strict upbringing.

About that time the Sanctuary came into view. It was a series of single story buildings surrounded by a ten foot hall wall and palisade that crouched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. There were two enormous gates, one at the north and one at the south end. Kavala brought them through the horse gate which was wide open and brought the wagon to a halt.

Grooms came running and so too did teenagers. There were people flooding the Courtyard that opened between two large barns and paddocks protected by the walls. They immediately began unloading the wagon and Kavala got busy introducing Freke to all of them. It seemed each person had a different job. The falconer grabbed the supplies she’d ordered. The blacksmith took his metal ingots off to the smithy. Groceries were unloaded by the teens into wheelbarrows and pushed out across what looked like a big arena and past that into what appeared to be double doors leading into the facility.

Kavala left someone named Aweston to unhitch Silk and gave Freke a quick tour of the facility, incuding where he could bathe and where he could sleep. She gave him a guest room all to himself, which was fully furnished and shared a bathroom with a neighboring guest room. Her home was large, somewhat like a labyrinth, and divided into two main areas. There were barns for horses, some breeding stock and some boarders. And then there were buildings that Kavala called the Healing Center where she took patients and taught young people the art of healing. The only place she told him was off limits was the solar which belonged to Caelum when the Celestial was in residence. It was the only two story part of the facility. Most of The Sanctuary was underground. And it would remind anyone seeing it for the first time of some long lost Inn buried partially in the past and partially of the now filled with worn luxury. Kavala obviously liked nice things, but those things got used, worn, and weren’t just for looking at.

With that done, Kavala gave Freke the night to himself, to bathe and to relax. She told him what time they all ate and invited him to join the group which was about a dozen strong. Once they’d eaten, there would be leftovers in her ice box that kept food good for longer than it should. He was free to rummage in there at any time. And she also showed him where the cold storage was for meat, so he could feed on game when he needed too or put his kills if he decided to add to the hunter’s pot.

When she was done, shed answer any of his questions he might have and leave him to his own devices. His purchases were all delivered to his room if they were ready, so he had clean clothing available. The bath had towels and soaps and creams for his hair and anything else he might need.

She’d worry about the rest of it at the dawn of the new day. Hopefully he could settle in and start getting to know some of the staff, maybe even relax a little under his new freedoms.

This pc is maxed out in Animal Husbandry, Medicine, Observation, Rhetoric, and Socialization.

Kavala a Master Teacher. Students she is teaching in thread can earn more than the maxium 5 XP per thread.

This pc has a Konti Gift of Animal Empathy. She has a superpower from a Riverfall city event that allows animals of all sorts and Kelvics (in kelvic form) to speak clear understandable Common around her.

Kavala is a Konti but was raised in the Drykas culture so her accent is entirely Pavi though she can speak Common, Pavi, and Tukant well. She's only conversational in Kontinese.